Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

Can’t win for orating

A different manifest destiny: “America, like the Old World, is to be settled by many nations.” Clement Vallandigham and his fellow Peace Democrats were criticized in much of the North for being de facto agents of disunion, because the South … Continue reading

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Death of an Irish woman

I’m not sure how much of a mystery the death turned out to be, but this story would seem to indicate that Union troops were finally getting paid and sending remittances back to their loved ones. From a Seneca County, … Continue reading

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A cold night in Richmond

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 5, 1863: The coldest night. –Tuesday night was the coldest one since 1857. This fact was ascertained by a comparison of the thermometer at the City Water Works, where the mercury in the tube … Continue reading

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Jeff didn’t build that

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 5, 1863: To the Confederate Congress. Repeal the whole exemption law passed October, 1862; you will thereby add 100,000 more men to the army. Your provise [proviso?] against extortion is not worth a cent. … Continue reading

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Black and White

A pro-Union editorial saying that Northerners who propose compromise and peace are really supporting Disunion because the South is never going to willingly rejoin the Union, with or without guarantees for slavery. Because the Administration has settled on its anti-slavery … Continue reading

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Ahoy, Y’all!

Confederate Navy hasn’t begun to fight. A Southern editorial from 150 years ago today thinks the Confederate government should wake up to the potential of a bigger Confederate navy. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 2, 1863: The Confederate Navy. … Continue reading

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Like Eating Fish on Friday?

150 years ago this week the Dispatch reported on an editorial in The Times of London that compared slavery with some practices of Roman Catholicism – the Bible might frown on some of the activities of each but does not … Continue reading

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Basket Case

Comparing market baskets from 1860 and 1863 A newspaper in the Confederate capital compared antebellum prices with 1863 prices and helped quantified the high inflation in Richmond since the war began (the basics in the baskets were at least ten … Continue reading

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Burned up

A Democrat publication in western New York state uses Ambrose Burnside’s resignation from command of the Army of the Potomac as reason to launch another tirade against the Lincoln Administration. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863: Resignation … Continue reading

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The Good Ship America

Eventually Headed for Peaceful Waters – if a Democrat at the Helm Peace Democrat James Wall has his work cut out for him in the five weeks he’s going to be in the United States Senate. From the Richmond Daily … Continue reading

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